e time he was said to have been
abroad with that which had elapsed since her daughter's ravishment, she
found them to agree very closely. She made all this known to her
husband; and it was finally settled between the three that they should
not move in the matter for the present, but wait till the will of Heaven
had declared itself respecting the little patient.

Luis was out of danger in a fortnight; in a month he rose from his bed;
and during all that time he was visited daily by his mother and
grandmother, and treated by the master and mistress of the house as if
he was their own child. Dona Estafania, the kind gentleman's wife, often
observed, in conversation with Leocadia, that the boy so strongly
resembled a son of hers who was in Italy, she never could look at him
without thinking her son was actually before her. One day, when Dona
Estafania repeated this remark, no one being present but herself and
Leocadia, the latter thought it a good opportunity to open her mind to
the lady, in the manner previously concerted between herself and her
parents.

"Senora," she said, "when my parents heard of the terrible accident that
had befallen their nephew, they felt as if the sky had fallen upon their
heads. For them it was losing the light of their eyes, and the staff of
their age, to lose their nephew, their love for whom far surpasses that
which parents commonly bear towards their sons. But, as the proverb
says, with the disease God sends the remedy. The boy found his recovery
in this house; and I found in it reminiscences of events I shall never
forget as long as I live. I, senora, am noble, for so are my parents,
and so were all my ancestors, who, though but moderately endowed with
the gifts of fortune, always happily maintained their honour where-ever
they lived."

Dona Estafania listened attentively to Leocadia, and was astonished to
hear her speak with an intelligence beyond her years, for she did not
think her more than twenty; and without interrupting her by a single
word, she heard her relate her whole story, how she had been forcibly
carried into that chamber, what had been done to her there, and by what
tokens she had been able to recognise it again. In confirmation of all
this, she drew forth from her bosom the crucifix she had taken away with
her, and thus addressed it: "Lord, who wast witness of the violence done
to me, be thou the judge of the amends which are my due. I took thee
from off this cabinet, tha